Cuprum, Simple case of Autism

Case
August 2006


Initial consultation september 19, 2005.
K.S., Six year old boy.
Both parents bring him to my office complaining that he has Autism and that he is violent to others.


We sit down and I observe:
K. presented with paroxysms of noise and motion. He is small in stature, beautiful, with a large head. This small stature is related to digestive impairment secondary to gut injury. The large circumference head is commonly found in autistic individuals.
Autistic children are usually very beautiful – long lashes, big eyes, and symmetrical faces – perfect in appearance, (more commonly so where cancer is in their genetic history).


He is the son of Japanese American immigrants. His father speaks almost no English and did not contribute much verbally to the case. The father is a restaurant owner and chef. The mother helps with the business. She is a former professional dancer and now an accountant. There is one older brother – M., age 8, who is well. The maternal grandmother provided and still provides a great deal of care.


The mother says:
"He has a history of hitting (his own) head severely. We saw Dr. Eric Dolgin, D.O. for Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy who helped a great deal." K's right ear is deaf since birth.
K was conceived in America and the pregnancy was no problem.
"I did not know I was pregnant till 3 to 4 weeks. I had a tooth removed under local anesthesia and took antibiotics (type unknown)."
The mother was age 36 at delivery. She had an epidural, and then delivery after the doctor broke her water to induce labor. The labor was 3 hours.
"During pregnancy K. was much quieter than his brother. We saw immediately that he had a problem with his right ear; it was bigger than the left ear. After the birth he stopped breathing for a short time. The doctors kept him overnight in the hospital because of this." Both boys had a bit of jaundice.
The mother had many (20) silver amalgams due to unavailability of good dental care in rural Japan where she grew up. Also she did not receive good instructions on oral hygiene from her parents. Now she has only one mercury amalgam is left, (others have been replaced with composite fillings).
At age 1 K. is seen smiling and waving in video tapes. He had very early teething at 7 months (carc). His brother had teethed later. K. bit his mother’s nipple to get attention (violent).


The mother wanted to be a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), and got a job when K was 7 months old. She had lots of work she would give 3 shots of vaccines at a time because it was difficult to get away from work. She ate Doritos and Cheetos and had a bad diet. (Corn chips and cheese doodles).
The mother was too busy to pay attention to any reaction after vaccines and the maternal grandmother was the primary care giver at this time. No information was available from the maternal grandmother.


K's stool was always watery since birth. Then he had yeast infections. Now the stools are good. At the beginning though he had very watery stools that filled the diaper with liquid, not smelly and were brownish-yellow.
"He would cry at night and kick until we changed his diet. His sleep is much better with a gluten free/casein free (GFCF) diet that began last year. His eye contact, responsiveness and attention are all better since we began the GFCF diet. Now he takes many supplements, but it is difficult to get him to take them. The doctor wants us to give him 7 supplements a day. We can get 2 into him. He will take vitamins in pomegranate juice."
He climbs and is very athletic. He knows where his mother hides crackers, beef jerky, and juice. He has hit his head quite a lot. Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy has been given with benefit.


He was less responsive by age 2. He began hitting and pulling his hair this year. Also he bites. He knows pulling his hair is more effective than biting. He needs help, but is very violent. His mother has devised a way to hold him when he is in a rage so that he does not hurt her. He does not like speech therapy and cries there.


Family Medical History:
Mother in her 20’s was prone to bladder infections. She used to be a modern dancer. She would sweat and then get a chill and then a bladder infection would begin.
The maternal grandmother is forgetful, her short-term memory is poor. The maternal grandfather had deceased from liver cancer after drinking alcohol – whiskey, even though he was happy.
The paternal grandfather died age 48 of heart attack and the paternal grandmother died in the year 2000.
The mother’s brother is healthy at age 37, father’s 3 brothers are healthy, but not close.


Observations:
K. will lie back with his feet up in the air and play with toys – a soft anemone-like rubbery toy.
He will give me a "high five" and glance at me if I ask him to.
He climbs over parents as they sit on a sofa in my office. K. gives video tapes to parents to play for him which he does not watch. (No speech).


K. began at an Early Start Program offered by school district at age 2.5. (This program offers speech and occupational therapy to help children who have delayed development.) He cried a lot and did not like it.
He is obsessed with leaves and likes to tear them.
The school has good resources and uses a “Floor Time” program. He is occasionally interested to interact with other children, but has very limited skills.
K. has a fear of going to the doctor’s office and will cry.
He use to be afraid of leaf blowers, bathroom fans, the sound of a video tape rewinding, and a fear of new people.
His sensitivity to sounds is better since chelation, but still sensitive to a degree.
He likes smiling persons, likes to be hugged, likes to be upside down and standing on his head. He has very good balance and he can stand on a horse that is walking. He swims like a sea otter and is very fast in the water.
K can speak a few words, but almost always must be prompted several times. He can understand Japanese and English. He will calm down when Mozart is played. He will hit his head near midnight.
He has no sweating or drooling. He did sweat on his head from age 2, a bit less since they removed wheat from his diet.
Food desires: beef, chicken, McDonald’s French fries, cereal, corn flakes.


K was nursed until 8 months. He quit shortly after beginning to teethe. His mother was working at the time. She still loves her job.
K. likes to be outside more than inside. He sleeps on his back on a pillow with his hands above his head and he likes to sleep with brother. (This was really the only time that he showed any interest in brother.) K will occasionally hump his mother or therapist (masturbate, common symptom).


K. takes methylcobalamine B12 injections twice a week. He has a history of fevers once a month for which his mother would give Tylenol. K. has been doing better since OMT and treatment from DAN protocol. (DAN “Defeat Autism Now” protocol is a biomedical approach to treating Autistic individuals with vitamins, supplements, diet and pharmaceuticals).


Before K. would not react to pain, but now he is reacting more normally. He has a history of remedies: he had been given infrequent and high doses of Tarentula and either Stramonium or Scorpion, (I can’t recall which) with no benefit within approximately a year of treatment.


Plan: A two part prescription:
1) Morbillinum 30C, one dose only for one day.
Gut damage in MMR injured individuals looks similar to that when the AIDS virus is present. It is very syphilitic. Morbillinum individuals are miserable and cranky. (Shepherd writes beautifully about Morbillinum).
2) Beginning the next day, Cuprum metallicum 6C once daily. K. suffered from seizure like paroxysms of pain resulting in violence to himself and others, neonatal asphyxia and vaccine injury.


What did the first homeopath miss? Likely he did not comprehend the significance of the rhythm of symptoms – paroxysms or spasms of violence. He may not have seen them as seizure-like events related to a brain injury. He may not have ranked the episode of asphyxia as being important. Certainly he did not adopt the strategy of giving low potencies daily in a case where daily life was filled with violence.


Morbillinum
  

First follow up
October 24, 2005 by telephone with K's mother.
"He is better than the first time we talked. We stopped the remedy at Yom Kippur and began again afterward. There was no violent reaction. He had rashes and itching with soft stools. The stool has tiny bits in it (different from before). He is doing very well now, but he will wake after 2 or 3 hours. He cries “itai” (Japanese for “pain”), but he is less violent, although he can still be aggressive. He had a yellow mucous discharge from both eyes on the morning of October 1st." (Keynote of Morbillinum – and in this case the discharge likely contained toxins from the vaccine and Tylenol in his brain).
His violence is reduced by 50%. His headaches at night are much reduced. Also the Osteopath noted an entirely positive qualitative change in his ability to treat K.
K. was not waking at night and crying and pulling hair or biting. It has been much easier. His ability to understand speech is much better. He is growing more. (He is absorbing more nutrients from his gut and therefore less malnourished.) He still wants to go outside and is obsessed with leaves. He doesn’t want to stop watching videos or playing, he will get upset and scream when interrupted. Cuprum is very useful for him.
Impression: Doing well.
Plan: continue Cuprum met. 6C daily.


Follow up
November 21, 2005 by phone with K's mother.
He is better than last month. We gave Morbillinum 30C on the 25th of October and he had some tantrums for a week, but these were milder and shorter than in the past.
Now the diarrhea is gone and it is easier for him to go to the bathroom. The pains he feels in the right side of his head are less severe and less frequent. Now he is imitating us much more (more social interest – usually the first thing to improve in such cases.)
He is not organized with homework, but he will now willingly sit at his desk instead of resisting it (new). He needs a lot of pressure in his joints to pay attention (a common symptom in brain injury cases). He no longer resists or pulls hair, or throws things for the last 2 months. His mood is good and he is smiling more. I stopped the chelation for the last three months. I was giving DMPS transdermally and still giving glutathione and methylcobalamine B12. K. has fewer tantrums and crying. He likes roller coasters. He can control his bladder now. His sensory and muscle control is developing. He can’t yet say “I have to go pee pee.” He is not banging his head these days.
Plan: continue Cuprum met 6C daily.


Cuprum





Follow up
December 27, 2005 by telephone with K's mother.
Not as good a month since his molars are coming in. He has been cranky with the pain. We gave Morbillinum on November 22nd because he was stubborn. He would not cooperate at home or school. He was better again a week after this single dose of Morbillinum 30C. After his molar erupted it got easier. Now he is doing very well – much less crying again. His father says it is much easier now. "Now we can go to restaurants because his spontaneous noises are less and he can sit at a table. Before it was like carrying a time bomb." He has no headaches now. He can more easily repeat what he hears. His mother is now pregnant again with their 3rd child – in vitro. "He doesn’t hit me or pull my hair anymore. He is not hitting himself as often." Violence is 80% less than it was, before it was every night. Now he is sometimes (merely) pretending to be threatening. He is not violent to his brother. He is growing a lot taller. He is very fit and doing a lot of sports and gymnastics.
Plan: Cuprum met 12C once daily. Kreosotum 30C, only if tooth pain is overwhelming.


Follow up
January 26, 2006 by telephone with K's mother.
He is much better with the higher dose of Cuprum. His headaches moved to a place near a bump on his head and the pains seem to be moving toward the back of his head and neck. He is now saying new words (spontaneously). He also is beginning to answer a bit in Japanese (primary language at home.) His aggressiveness is 5% of what it was. He can stay still to study now for between 15 and 30 minutes.
Plan continue; Cuprum met 12C daily.


Follow up
March 1, 2006 by telephone with K's mother.
K. is doing better. No headaches, no crying, unless he has wheat. The teething pain is better in a just few minutes with an occasional Kreosotum 30C. He still can play with leaves for hours. He loves horseback riding, gymnastics, swimming, trampoline, and climbing. His appetite is much better. He is less obsessive than he was and his sleep is very good.
Plan: Continue Cuprum met 12C daily. Maintain GFCF diet very strictly.
(Gut inflammation is the last thing to be resolved in these cases and aggravating foods will delay general improvement).


Follow up
Early July 2006
– An in person visit in Los Angeles, the first time I have seen K. since our initial consultation in September 2005. His brother and mother attend.
K. is now very responsive to his family and teachers. He will make good eye contact and he has grown a great deal. K. now is interested in playing with his older brother and they have become quite close. (In September, K. would not play or acknowledge his brother; he only wanted to sleep with his brother at night.)
I observed that K's speech is delayed, but much improved and social interest is firmly intact. He continues to improve.


Plan: continue Cuprum met 12C daily.


My perception:
K. is very well loved and thoughtfully cared for. Although his father speaks nearly no English, his presence at our initial interview was an important positive sign in the prognosis of K. His mother presented with a very positive and sunny disposition, and she did not reveal the depth of her suffering and worry in our first visit. K. had been attacking her with little restraint due to paroxysms of violence for more than a year. Only some months later did she reveal that she had been at her wits’ end before bringing her son to homeopathy. She confessed that she had been contemplating killing her son and committing suicide herself because of his violence and lack of progress.


Note: It becomes important to accurately measure progress yourself rather than merely by report of an overly nice or polite parent, especially in this circumstance where the parent is more well mannered and hopeful than frank.


When there is a history of violence, sudden or not, it is wise to use lower potencies and “nudge” the patient forward on a daily (or less often) basis. As well, dry doses were used because the primary care giver is elderly and unfamiliar with homeopathy. The last thing the family needed was to fuss with preparing LM potencies. Even the simple process of preparing Elm’s can produce a great deal of anxiety in those new to homeopathy. They often are stewing “did we prepare the dose properly?”


Cuprum Metallicum - Convallaria majalis

John Melnychuk, R.S. Hom. (N.A.) CCH